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Dependency of Alaska (A better world TL)
Overview General located in the northwest extremity of North America. The Canadian administrative divisions of British Columbia and Yukon border the state to the east, its most extreme western part is Attu Island, and it has a maritime border with Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort seas–the southern parts of the Arctic Ocean. The Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest. It is the largest state in the former United States by area and the seventh largest subnational division in the world. The United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for 7.2 million U.S. dollars at approximately two cents per acre ($4.74/km2). The area went through several administrative changes before becoming organized as a territory on May 11, 1912. It was admitted as the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959. Approximately half of Alaska's residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaska's economy is dominated by the fishing, natural gas, and oil industries, resources which it has in abundance. Military bases and tourism are also a significant part of the economy. Stats *GDP per capita (PPP)= $75,723. *Spoken languages American English 96.3%, Alaska Native languages 15.2%, Tagalog 2.6%, Mexican Spanish 2.5%, Canadian English 0.8%, Russian 0.4% and Others 2.2%. Many native Alaskans are bilingual in English and a Native Alaskan language. *Demonym= Alaskan. *Highest point Denali= 20,310 ft (6190.5 m). *Governor= Bill Walker (I). *% of the people who are Native Alaskans ~17.8% (mostly Inuit, Iñupiat and Central Alaskan Yup'ik). *Population= 741,894 (plus some 50,000 American and 15,000 Russian Republican and Siberian exiles and refugees, and 7,500 overseas guest workers.). *Demonym= Alaskan. *Capital= Juneau. *Other major setelments= Fairbanks and Eagle River. *Largest city= Anchorage. *Area= 663,268 sq mi (1,717,856 km2). *Life exspectancy= 77. *Regime= Cascadian dependent territory, with US ecanomic and millatery influences *Nickname(s)= The Last Frontier. *Motto(s)= North to the Future. *State song(s)= "Alaska's Flag". History Alyeska was the name of the Russian colonies in North America. The name "'''Alaska'" (Russian: Аляска, Eng: tr. Alyaska) was introduced in the Russian colonial period when it was used to refer to the peninsula. It was derived from an Aleut, or Unangam idiom, which figuratively refers to the mainland of Alaska. Literally, it means: ''"Object to which the action of the sea is directed". The Alaska Gold Rush brought thousands to Alaska (1849-1914) and the Yukon (1896 and 1899.) in the mid 19th Century and again early 20th Cenury. A Russian mining engineer found gold on the Kenai Peninsula in 1849. It would continue in to 1914 when gold was discovered in Livengood near, Fairbanks. Gold was officially designated the state mineral of Alaska in 1968. The mining industry of Alaska produced US $22,070,000 during the year 1920. The 1968 discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay and the 1977 completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System led to an oil boom. Royalty revenues from oil have funded large state budgets from 1980 onward. That same year, not coincidentally, Alaska repealed its state income tax. Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (also known as KAL007 and KE007) was a scheduled Korean Air Lines flight from New York City to Seoul via Anchorage, Alaska. On September 1, 1983, the South Korean airliner serving the flight was shot down by a Soviet Su-15 interceptor over Soviet territory. President Reagan's bile afterwards lead to the abortive Soviet landing on Attu Island (A better world TL), after which Cascadia took de facto control of Alaska on the proviso that the US could station troops thire and have a monopoly on oil drilling in the region. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez hit a reef in the Prince William Sound, spilling over 11 million U.S. gallons (42 megaliters) of crude oil over 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of coastline. Today, the battle between philosophies of development and conservation is seen in the contentious debate over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the proposed Pebble Mine. The hispanic-phobic, moose hunting, gun toting, wakko governor Sarah Louise Palin was blown up in her Anchorage office by Siberian agents durin 2006 , but nobody cared once they heard she was the only intended target. Alaska is currently part of Cascadia, via being once being a nearby part of the USA. The political situation is tense with the Siberian SSR (A better world TL), sice Siberia is moderate communist and Cascadia (A better world TL) is liberal capitalist. Siberia wanted to purchase Attu Island since 2012, but Cascadia has politely refused. Eielson Air Force Base Eielson Air Force Base is now joint American (ruling junta faction) and Cascadian airbase. It's main role is to see off any Siberian hostillity in the near future. Economy Alaska's economy is dominated by the fishing, light industry, deer herding, logging, mining, metallurgy, petro-chemicals, quarrying, tourism, natural gas, processing timber, timber, tourism, food processing,paper, furniture, mining and oil industries; resources which it has in abundance. Its industrial outputs are crude petroleum, natural gas, coal, gold, precious metals, zinc and other mining, seafood, timber, wood products, steel, cast iron girders, steel girders, coal, logs, refined oil, fueled machines, building equipment, lubricating oils, PVC, polyethylene, polypropylene, petrol, butane, propane, planks, creosote, cloths, furniture, diesel, hydroelectricity, glassware, bottled L.P.G. and petrol. Military bases and tourism are also form a significant part of the economy. Oil and gas The 1968 discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay and the 1977 completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System led to an oil boom. Royalty revenues from oil have funded large state budgets from 1980 onward. That same year, not coincidentally, Alaska repealed its state income tax. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez hit a reef in the Prince William Sound, spilling over 11 million U.S. gallons (42 megaliters) of crude oil over 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of coastline. Today, the battle between philosophies of development and conservation is seen in the contentious debate over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the proposed Pebble Mine. Prudhoe Bay was the largest conventional oil field ever discovered in North America, but was much smaller than Canada's enormous Athabasca oil sands field, which by 2014 was producing about 1,500,000 barrels per day (240,000 m3/d) of unconventional oil, and had hundreds of years of producible reserves at that rate. Minerals The Alaska Gold Rush brought thousands to Alaska (1849-1914) and the Yukon (1896 and 1899.) in the mid 19th Century and again early 20th Century. A Russian mining engineer found gold on the Kenai Peninsula in 1849. It would continue in to 1914 when gold was discovered in Livengood near, Fairbanks. Gold was officially designated the state mineral of Alaska in 1968. Gold is found and has been mined throughout Alaska; except in the vast swamps of the Yukon Flats, and along the North Slope between the Brooks Range and the Beaufort Sea. Areas near Fairbanks and Juneau, and Nome are responsible for most of Alaska's historical and all current gold production. Nearly all of the large and many of the small placer gold mines currently operating in the US are in Alaska. The mining industry of Alaska produced US $22,070,000 during the year 1920 and was developed in to a leading industry from the early 20th Century. In 2015, gold worth $1.01 billion accounted for 37% of the mining wealth produced in Alaska. Zinc and lead, mainly from the Red Dog mine, accounted for 53%; silver, mainly from the Greens Creek mine, accounted for 8.5%; and coal accounted for 1.5%. Alaska produced a total of 40.3 million troy ounces of gold from 1880 through the end of 2007. The mining of zinc and gold are now being expanded with help from Japan, Cascadia, China and Canada. Fish and seals Seals, fish and Polar bears are here in abundance. The recent decline in fish stocks due to overfishing and the suspected melting of glaciers has become a thing of grate concern in the territory of Alaska. Nature reserves The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or Arctic Refuge) is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States. It consists of 19,286,722 acres (78,050.59 km2) in the Alaska North Slope region.1 It is the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, slightly larger than the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is administered from offices in Fairbanks. Just across the border in the Yukon, Canada, are the Ivvavik and Vuntu Canadian National Parks. Earthquake On March 27, 1964, the massive Good Friday earthquake killed 133 people and destroyed several villages and portions of large coastal communities, mainly by the resultant tsunamis and landslides. The tsunami which followed the Good Friday earthquake in 1964, destroying much of the Kodiak townsite. It was the second-most-powerful earthquake in the recorded history of the world, with a moment magnitude of 9.2. It was over one thousand times more powerful than the 1989 San Francisco earthquake. The time of day (5:36 pm), time of year and location of the epicenter were all cited as factors in potentially sparing thousands of lives, particularly in Anchorage. Category:Alaska Category:Arctic Category:A better world (TL)